As we gear up for Tokyo 2025, Jamaica’s track and field team selection process has again sparked intense debate. At the heart of recent controversy: the application of the medical exemption rule, which allowed top-ranked athletes to bypass national trials when injured—and now potentially edged out a deserving athlete who ran clean.
🏁 The Bone of Contention: Broadbell vs. Mason
This selection drama centers on Rasheed Broadbell and Tyler Mason in the hurdles:
Broadbell, at the time of the national championship, was ranked third globally. He missed the finals due to injury and submitted a medical exemption. He stands to make the team based on his ranking.
Mason, who finished third at trials and ran the championship qualifying standard, holds a world ranking around 22nd, which rises to roughly 12th when excluding the nine higher-ranked U.S. athletes.
Despite Mason meeting all performance criteria at trials, the policy leans toward favouring Broadbell—purely based on world ranking, season best, potential and injury exemption. That seems backward.
🕵️ What the JAAA Policy Actually Says
As established during previous Olympic cycles:
“Athletes who are ranked… in the top three in the world for their event who are ill or injured at the time of the National Championships and are granted an exemption… may still be considered for selection” (athleticsja.org).
This rule is clear: only world top-three athletes qualify for exemptions. Broadbell meets this, but Mason—though ranked within the top quota based purely on performance—is sidelined despite running the standard and finishing in a qualifying position.
🎭 Why This Feels Unfair
Mason competed fairly and hit the mark under pressure—the very test trials are meant to be.
Broadbell, while talented, didn’t compete due to injury, leaving unanswered questions around current form.
Automatically favouring a higher-ranked but untested athlete undercuts the merits of national trials.
In essence, it sends the signal that rankings and injury claims outweigh actual on-track performance.
🛠️ A Critical Fix: Amend the Exemption Rule
To maintain the sanctity of the trials—and reward performance as much as pedigree—Jamaica’s policy must be reconsidered:
- Expand eligibility: Medical exemptions should apply to athletes ranked high enough to qualify based on world rankings—not arbitrarily top three.
- Prioritise trials results: If an athlete runs the qualifying time and secures a top-three finish at trials, that on-track result should place them ahead of someone who bypassed competition—even if ranked higher globally.
- Strike fair balance: Let ranking serve as a tiebreaker when trials are inconclusive—not as a loophole to replace deserving athletes.
✅ Final Word
Sport thrives on meritocracy. When you win—or in Mason’s case, run to qualification under trial-day pressure—you earn your spot. Ranking, potential and past injury can’t be used to leapfrog those proving themselves in the moment.
Tokyo 2025 is set to be one of the most competitive Worlds. Jamaica deserves to send its very best—those who raced, ran the time, and showed up when it counted. Let’s amend the medical exemption rule so that on-track performance, not paper ranking, carries the day.
** The views expressed in this article are those of the author (Vaughan Nembhard) and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, trackalerts.com.
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There is nothing to fix with medical exemption rule it has worked well. In the case used in the article the author failed to mention that the day before Broadbell ran the fastest time by a jamaican in the event this year.11